and now she's nine....

Our not so little lady turned nine on monday...

she has been our little ladybug forever

and it's hard to believe she's really growin' up.

Last week was her 3rd grade invention fair.

She made an umbrella pack...

and watching her open that umbrella

was just so funny!

We're lucky no one lost an eye!

 explaining to the kiddos exactly how her invention works

and why it is so awesome!

 We celebrated #9 with a little party at grandma's house

Lady was so excited about her new stuff,

on Monday, she told all her friends

that she couldn't play...

cause she just wanted to check out all her stuff

and play all by herself.

too cute!

We sure love this sweet thing!

fights and festivals

This week Jace graduated from the RAD kids program...

it was weird that this was the last time

I'd be attending this with a first grader...

time does fly by.

He was super excited to "pepper the eyes"

of the man in red...and he did just that!

Stay back!  You're not my Dad! 

 Do ya see those fist of fury?

 Today...for the first time ever...

we went to Salem for the 

Hare Krishna "Festival of Colors"

...sounds pretty special...

really...just hundreds of people...

throwing bags of dyed cornstarch...

and every two hours...

everyone throws at the same moment.

who would have guessed

it would be so much FUN!

 before...

 an hour or so later...

 Tim has pics of both of us on his phone...

but I am not tricky enough to get them off...

so, you get just me at the beginning of the day.

 the first "throwing"

after 4 hours of throwing...

OH MY CHALKY DUST MESS!

We came home to shower...

the water, soap, and shampoo

were all shades of blue, orange, and pink.

great way to spend a saturday!

little bit of paint...

With all the birthdays this month....

Kenzie-2nd

Tim- 13th 

Me- 15th 

We took everyone to dinner at Texas Roadhouse

YUM!

Who knew that on a random Tuesday night

they would have free facepainting?!

 Lady got a butterfly

Jace's shark was hilarious!

He showed every single person that was at all interested

how when he opened his mouth, so did his shark :)

Maddy was a good sport and took all the kiddos

to get their paint...she even got a tiger for herself.

oh dear....serious creepy man mustache!

Kenzie was altogether way too old to join in....

ya know, cause 15 is soooo old!

instead, she took pictures for us...

Such a fun night!

when you're fifteen...

fifteen....

what can I say....

I don't feel like it's been THAT long!

I sure do LOVE this

beautiful,

happy,

smart,

talented,

spiritual,

attracting way too many boys

girl of mine!

Kenzie is all about everything in 9th grade...

the friends,

the parties,

the homework,

the honors classes,

the lunches,

the weekends,

the he-walked-me-to-class moments....

oh my!

We are having so much fun with this one!!

ya...that's right

my kid...

with a snowboard...

with my sports aversion,

I really don't know how it happened

but she sure loves it!

She's livin' her little life to the fullest,

and lovin' it all!

introducing...

Xavier and Flynn...

apparently, there is a new Springtime tradition

at the Thompson house.

ducks...

baby ducks...

2 of them...

as soon as the local IFA

starts bringing them in.

The kiddos all went with Tim today

and picked them out...

Xavier has stripes

Flynn is dark brown

They have been here for 4 hours...

already been given a bath...

fluffed next to the toasty warm fireplace...

pooped on my rug (GRRRRRR)

and had lots of loving.

meet Xavier

meet Flynn

ya...bleached the tub as soon as they were out

doesn't look like we'll need any entertainment

at our house for quite some time....

these two little fuzzies 

are all the entertainment we need!

And yes...if you hadn't realized...

Kenzie turned 15 yesterday...

more on her big day to come!

a little thing called pinterest

so....pinterest....

i think i'm an addict...

it's like having a hundred magazines

right at your fingertips

that magically change every few minutes.

oh the things i could do with all those ideas!

There was a link to shelves made from old pallets...

I checked it out...

then I made Tim check it out...

then we went hunting for free pallets.

We finally tracked some down at Cal Ranch.

perfect!  because now the cost is zero dollars.

I'm kind of in love with them....

and my laundry room is a much happier little room...

except for the broken, less than 2 year old

washing machine....grrrrrr.

Parts will take 2 weeks....

my mom is going to be seeing me often,

like every couple of days.

Keeping up with laundry is going to be

serious work!

valentines dinner!

the usual menu:

chicken marsala

whole wheat linguine

chocolate dipped strawberries

YUM!

and what valentines night would be complete

without a little "happy S.A.D day" texting...

Single Awareness Day (if you were wonderin')

I love how quickly February seems to go by...

We're already halfway there

and just that much closer to summer :)

it's an honor...

You learn something new every day....

I recently learned all about

the Jr High State Honor Choir

Kenzie tried out back in October...

Each school selects 4 girls/boys

and Kenz was super happy to be

chosen as a first alto...

Then we waited for the music...

there were 6 songs to learn...

all on your own...

memorized...

There were some "issues" getting the music

So the kiddos got it the last week of December...

had to be ready to perform by January 28th...

sure...no problem...

We spent a solid 2 weeks 

plunking out Kenzie's part on the piano.

On the 27th, kids from all over the state

spent 10 hours practicing together.

Their director was Ryan Murphy,

the assistant director for the tabernacle choir.

All 360 kids performed last Saturday at Mountain View...

and oh my beautiful!

They sang in italian, german, and english

and I could not have been more impressed.

eight part harmony?

from 9th graders?

WOW.

Kenzie of course became bff's with the cutie

standing next to her in black...

they text regularly...

along with a couple of boys

from pg and orem.

I am sooo not surprised...

that girls makes friends everywhere she goes!

It was a great experience for Kenzie on so many levels...

So glad she has the confidence to do these things

and just be who she knows she is.

We should be getting a recording of the songs soon...

I'll try and post a couple of them so you

can be amazed along with me :)